According to section 718.1 of the Criminal Code, Sentencing in Canada “must be proportionate to the gravity of the offence and the degree of responsibility of the offender”. Despite that being said, the system tends to leave the final decision to the judge. In 2015, the population of adult offenders showed a decline in the overall adult population at 461 offenders per 100,000 adults (Reitano, 2016) and drug related offences decreased by 15% between 2014 and 2015 (Allen, 2016). Looking at the offenders’ population from a gender point of view, women offenders come at 15% of the correctional population (Reitano, 2016). Although most offenders tend not to end up incarcerated, challenges arise due to the specific needs of the different types of
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The correctional officers are required to develop a relationship with the inmates despite their principle of “never trust an inmate” (Griffiths, 2015, p. 255); this relationship helps them noticing signals and cues in the inmates behaviors to avoid any dangerous situation. Unfortunately some officers tend to abuse that relationship and authority for their personal gain. For the female offenders, they tend to have more needs like hygiene and psychiatric needs, some officers tend to take advantage of that especially the male ones. In June, a male officer was arrested due to sexually abusing two female inmates. Many female prisoners reported being abused, threatened and forced to have sex with the guards, and with the guards’ authority and power as well as the inmates’ mental state there rarely tend to be any consequences for the guards (Brown, 2016).
There tend to be the same issue facing drug related offenders, with officers abusing their powers for their personal gains. Drug related offenders tend to have substance abuse issues and with inability to access any drugs in prison they don’t tend to think straight and be quite vulnerable. In February, a female correctional officer was arrested for having sex a male inmate in exchange for drugs. According to the New York code, inmates can’t consent for sex, which counted the instant as rape (Caplan-Bricker,
The correctional officers are required to develop a relationship with the inmates despite their principle of “never trust an inmate” (Griffiths, 2015, p. 255); this relationship helps them noticing signals and cues in the inmates behaviors to avoid any dangerous situation. Unfortunately some officers tend to abuse that relationship and authority for their personal gain. For the female offenders, they tend to have more needs like hygiene and psychiatric needs, some officers tend to take advantage of that especially the male ones. In June, a male officer was arrested due to sexually abusing two female inmates. Many female prisoners reported being abused, threatened and forced to have sex with the guards, and with the guards’ authority and power as well as the inmates’ mental state there rarely tend to be any consequences for the guards (Brown, 2016).
There tend to be the same issue facing drug related offenders, with officers abusing their powers for their personal gains. Drug related offenders tend to have substance abuse issues and with inability to access any drugs in prison they don’t tend to think straight and be quite vulnerable. In February, a female correctional officer was arrested for having sex a male inmate in exchange for drugs. According to the New York code, inmates can’t consent for sex, which counted the instant as rape (Caplan-Bricker,